County officials Tuesday approved negotiations for a tax abatement agreement with Audubon Metals – an industrial company based in Henderson, Kentucky looking to develop their second facility in San Antonio – which would bring a $47 million investment to the area.

The agreement could potentially include a 10-year, 75% abatement on real and personal property taxes, and could create new annual tax revenue for other entities, County officials said. The company plans to build the new facility on the Southside near Elmendorf, Texas, and create 82 new jobs that would pay a $40,578 salary annually.

“I think there is great significance in keeping us on the map in Bexar County as a regional provider of manufacturing and as a logistical center between North America and Latin America,” said Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert.

The company, which uses technology to turn scrap metal into material usable for automotive parts, complements the County’s “push to change the focus of education and put a real focus on skill development,” said Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff.

Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert (P4). Photo by Scott Ball.

The company previously looked at other cities throughout Texas and Mexico to expand their operations, but chose San Antonio because the area “affords us many opportunities,” said Audubon Metals LLC President and CEO Jim Butkus on Tuesday.

Though investors and suppliers have asked Audubon to relocate to Mexico, Butkus said that the company will do well in San Antonio, and be “viable and competitive with the Mexican smelters.”

Butkus also credited San Antonio’s culture and business approach, as well as its extensive transportation options, as major contributing factors to the company’s final choice.

“We’re looking forward to becoming a part of this community and giving back,” he said.

I love that there is an article posted right before this one about how the city is concerned that property tax caps will cause a decline in public services. Why the heck are we providing 10 years of tax abatement to a scrap metal company who pays an average wage of $40,000?! Those are not good jobs, and that is not a good investment. This kind of lazy “economic development” is not bringing “skilled jobs” to San Antonio, despite what Judge Wolff tells the media. Working at a junkyard for $30k a year is not the kind of job we should be incentivizing to move to our city/county. So disillusioned and disappointed with our city leaders. How can we ever change things?